What if my job starts at 7 a.m.?

Advance wake-time gradually (15 min every few days), use a dawn-simulator lamp, and front-load protein breakfast to help your body clock adjust.

Night-Owl Routine Builder 🦉

Q: Do I have to become a morning person?

No. Chronotype is partly genetic (≈14 % heritable). Align tasks with natural evening peaks, then shift gently with timed light and consistent wake-times.

TL;DR — Roughly 60% of adults with ADHD lean toward an evening chronotype, showing delayed dim-light melatonin onset and their sharpest creative focus between 21:00 – 23:00¹. Use the quick builder below to anchor wake-time, add timed light, time caffeine, and block blue light so you can thrive late-night without wrecking tomorrow.

1 · Personalise your core anchors

2 · Your printable skeleton

Morning anchor ⏰ Wake at 08:00, then expose yourself to outdoor light or a 10k lux lamp within 15 minutes. Two-week trials show morning light advanced sleep by ≈ 40 minutes and reduced ADHD symptoms³.

· +1 h

First coffee (delays caffeine crash).

· +7 h

Optional cardio — moderate evening exercise doesn’t harm sleep if finished ≥ 2h before bed⁷.

· 22:00

Run 2 × 45-minute focus sprints; mute notifications, use earbuds.

· 23:00

Blue-light block: glasses or screen filter (advanced melatonin in open trial)⁴.

· 23:30

Wind-down — brain-dump to Mind Vortex, 5-min breathing.

· 00:00

Lights out → aim ≥ 7h 15m total sleep time; consider 0.5mg melatonin if advised³.

3 · Evidence-based tips

Morning bright-light advances circadian phase and eases ADHD symptoms after two weeks³.
Stop caffeine ≥ 6 – 8h before bed — lab study cut one hour of sleep when caffeine was taken 6h pre-bed⁵.
Keep weekends within ± 30 min; > 2h social jet-lag doubles executive-function errors the next morning⁶.
Evening exercise is fine if it ends ≥ 2h before bedtime; only vigorous activity in the final hour harms sleep latency⁷.

4 · FAQs

Do I have to become a morning person?

No. Chronotype is partly genetic (~14% heritable)⁸. Align tasks with your natural peaks, then shift gently with light and consistency.

What if I start work at 7 a.m.?

Advance wake-time 15 minutes every three days, use a dawn-simulator lamp, and eat protein early. Gradual phase-advances stick better than abrupt shifts³.

References

Van Veen MM et al. Delayed circadian phase in adults with ADHD. Chronobiol Int. 2010. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20199129
Esaki Y et al. Evening blue-light blocking advances circadian rhythms. Chronobiol Int. 2016. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27322730
Rybak YE et al. Bright-light therapy in adult ADHD: open trial. J Clin Psychiatry. 2006. psychiatrist.com
Esaki Y (see ref 2).
Drake C et al. Caffeine taken 0, 3, 6h before bed. J Clin Sleep Med. 2013. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24235903
Becker SP et al. Social jet-lag, sleep & cognition. Sleep Health. 2023. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PMC10371116
Stutz J et al. Evening exercise and sleep meta-analysis. Sports Med. 2019. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30374942
Jones SE et al. Genome-wide analysis of chronotype. Nat Commun. 2019. nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08259-7